The Rt. Rev. C. Wallis Ohl Jr., who retired Saturday from his post as bishop of the Diocese of Northwest Texas of the Episcopal Church, has definite plans for his retirement.
“The first thing I’m going to do for about six months is nothing,” he said. But he quickly went into a list of things he has planned.
“I’m going to work on getting my house ready to sell,” he said. “We’re going to do some painting, stripping of wallpaper, yard work and a few things like that.
My contribution to the newspaper’s comment section:
The past 11 years have simply been a disaster for the diocese. Average Sunday attendance is a good measure of church activity. This has declined by 28% under Mr. Ohls and now stands at just over 2000 for all 55 parishes. Average Sunday attendance is now only about 40. The reality is that a parish with only 40 parishioners is in dire straits.
Membership has fallen by 23% since 1999 and that decline is accelerating.
Giving in the diocese is at the same level as it was in 2000. When adjusted for inflation, that’s a 17% drop.
And no, he can’t blame the economy because all the above analysis is only through 2007 and the economy has been booming for the entire time period. Perhaps, he needs to be a little more self critical. In 2000, he voted for the resolution that “recognizing and affirming fidelity in relationships outside of Christian marriage (D039)” which is episcobabble for homosexual relationships. He then voted for the openly homosexual Gene Robinson in 2003. He has carried out a cleansing of orthodox clergy. It is no small secret that clergy from the conservative seminaries need not apply. Has Mr. Ohls considered this liberalism might not sit well in the northwest Texas?
He leaves the diocese in shambles and questionable viability. It is so bad that they had a hard time getting people to allow themselves to be considered for the job of bishop.
Are these harsh words for a guy that’s retiring? You bet. But they need to be said, because if the replacement carries on the same, the diocese hasn’t got even 10 more years.
Didn’t Bp. Ohl make his own contribution to deposing, suing, and otherwise “affirming” the orthodox?
Oh, boy! He sure DID!
Although +Ohl did vote for (D039) in 2000, he voted against VGR at GC2003, and also for Bishop Ackerman’s resolution in 03 to “Endorse Certain Historic Anglican Doctrines and Policies”.
Was he a fence sitter over the past five years? Yes, but due to his predecessor in NWT there is a huge amount of liberal clergy and they rode his tail the whole time he was bishop. In hindsight, it is amazing he was ever elected bishop in that diocese.
Mateo, I got the information of on Ohl from Louie Crew’s site:
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/bishops/0202.html
which says he did vote for the consent of VGR.
As did I. If you look green items are considered “favorable” to the Louie Crew crowd, he has a “0” beside VGR, which means he voted no. I still have a copy of the Living Church from after GC03 and he voted no, I think he even wrote a letter to the diocese about it. I remember in the diocesan newspaper he said that in NWT clergy must be either single and celibate or married and faithful, and his vote at GC2003 reflected that.
From the sermons I heard him preach I have no doubts of his orthodoxy, but then he may have been well aware of where he was (Good Shepherd in San Angelo which left TEC almost two years ago).
Nonetheless, I’m happy to be in South Carolina now:)
Pax
Hey Rob Roy, it doesn’t say that.
Same thing was done with Bishop Jones — people reported entirely incorrect information about him.
This is not directed at Rob Roy — but we look really untrustworthy when we can’t report facts correctly about bishops whose votes are on the record:
http://new.kendallharmon.net/wp-content/uploads/index.php/t19/article/17241/#293943
+Wallis is an ‘old-timey’ Nashotah House graduate, and as such, voted against +VGR’s consecration, while the other clergy and lay delegates all voted for it. +Wallis was elected by the few conservative clergy left and the very conservative lay people of the diocese. NWT had been packed with lots of very liberal clergy by the previous bishop, +Sam Hulsey, who did not treat +Wallis with much respect.
Let me clarify my previous – it was the clergy that Sam Hulsey had brought to NWT who were disrespectful. I do not know if +Sam was ever disrespectful of +Wallis.
I have submitted a correction of to the newspaper, Mateo+ was right that I got confused by Louie Crew’s screwy 0’s and 1’s. And Sarah is right that we need to be very accurate – something that I strive for but failed here. (My analysis of the numbers is accurate, of course! That’s a joke because I sometimes mess that up.)